2 U.S. Service Members Killed in Afghanistan, Pentagon Says

Two American service members were killed on Wednesday in the Afghan province of Nangarhar, where the “mother of all bombs” was dropped two weeks ago.Credit
Noorullah Shirzada/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

WASHINGTON — Two American service members were killed and a third was wounded Wednesday night in an operation in the same part of Afghanistan where the military dropped its most powerful conventional weapon two weeks ago, the Pentagon said.

The soldiers were taking part in a lengthy raid that was supported by airstrikes from American warplanes and that was targeting the Islamic State in Nangarhar Province, said Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman. A number of Islamic State fighters have been engaging in a long-running battle with Afghanistan security forces in the Achin district.

Achin is where the Pentagon deployed on April 13 what is nicknamed the “mother of all bombs,” aimed at Islamic State fighters who were hiding in caves and a tunnel complex. The Defense Department deemed the operation successful, but fighting has continued there and the Afghanistan military, supported by the Defense Department, has yet to clear the area of remaining Islamic State fighters.

Defense Department officials were waiting until immediate family was notified before releasing the names of the two soldiers killed. Officials said that a third soldier was wounded when they came under attack during the raid.

“The fight against ISIS-K is important for the world, but sadly, it is not without sacrifice,” said Gen. John W. Nicholson, commander of United States Forces Afghanistan, using another name for the Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan. “On behalf of all U.S. forces and our coalition partners, I offer our deepest sympathies to the families, friends and fellow service members of our fallen comrades.”

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Defense officials have given few details about the extent of the damage from the massive bomb because the area largely remains an active combat zone. General Nicholson did not speak to President Trump, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis or the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., before deploying the bomb, an action that illustrates the increased freedom that American military field commanders have received in the Trump presidency.

But that freedom has also prompted criticism from some foreign policy experts and even some Pentagon officials who say that field commanders have not thought about the larger strategic implications of their actions.

The Pentagon still has not offered a public assessment of the damage done by the bombing, a routine step after major strikes in Syria and Iraq. Afghan officials initially said they thought only 36 Islamic State fighters had been killed, but they have since revised that number to just under 100.

An American military official in Kabul said on Thursday that the bomb was dropped north of an area called Momand Bridge, and the two soldiers were killed just south of the bridge.

Afghan television channels broadcast on Thursday what they said was the first video of the site of the bomb. In it, the tunnels used by Islamic State fighters look buried under rubble, with about 15 bodies strewn around.

The two soldiers killed Wednesday night bring to three the number of American service members killed in Afghanistan this year — all in Nangarhar Province. The Army Staff Sgt. Mark R. De Alencar, 37 and a Green Beret, was killed after coming under fire in Achin on April 8.